Planning for Photographs

The images which I planned for my magazine had to be done in a professional way.

My photos were all taken within a class room, in front of a green screen so that I would be able to edit the pictures easily with Photoshop and other editing programmes. I took the photos within a class room for two reasons, one that the classroom is fitted to the standards of a studio, and two that I could have at hand a professional standard camera.

The artist which I had to choose had to be blonde and dress in an unusual style, so using a friend as the model for my magazine I found that it was easy to coordinate how he could look for the magazine.

The props which I used for the production of the magazine such as the guitar was brought in from home, I believed that to get a more professional look that a musical instrument would make the magazine look more attractive for my target audience. The final piece of work which needed to be done was to arrange so that the photo-shoot looked good. The class room was also fitted with a light which enhanced the photos I had taken for the magazine, this light made the photo much more professional. 

Magazine Final Proposal

The genre of my music magazine will be of an indie pop background; this is due to the fact that indie pop is a rising form of music in society and is considered a mainstream genre. The title of my magazine however is ‘Underground’ relating back to the well-known form of ‘busking’ as it mostly takes place in public areas such as Underground stations. ‘Underground’ is a term today meaning a genre in music and other forms of media intended for an elite audience, that is often characterized by its high levels of originality and experimentation, and does not conform to typical standards, trends, or hypes as set by the popular mainstream media, so I've stuck true to the original idea of indie pop being a underground based music genre as it quite unpredictable. My magazine will be set for those of the ages between sixteen to early adulthood this is due to my targeted audience being quite young with a liking in the indie pop genre, the audience should also have some kind of income at this moment in life either they are working part time/full time or are even studying, due to this I have put my magazine at the price range of £2.00 as it is medium priced and is not over the given budget of the target audience, in my questionnaire I asked the question “What is the most you would pay for a magazine” the most popular choice was £2.00 so I choose this amount to be my magazines selling price.
“Underground” will be published fortnightly this is due to the fact it allows students to recuperate their budgets for the magazine and also means that the company can spend their time to work on a more though out magazine, as it can be properly planned and focus on certain stories instead of rushing for a deadline meaning that the magazine would be unprofessional and soon will run out of material to publish, the question “How long should my magazine be published” also featured in my questionnaire this was answered by a mass amount asking for the magazine to be published “fortnightly”.
I have decided to create this type of magazine due to the fact that I have a passion in music, even though I am not pressuring a career in music I still wish to keep it as a major part of my life, Indie music has been the soundtrack to my life for some years and now I wish to use that genre of music to help me in designing a leading magazine.
My magazine will have a double page article which will be on the main image which will be printed on the front of the magazine of a major artist. My magazine will consist of mentioning other leading bands which are either on tour such as “Vampire Weekend” and other top leading indie bands or artists.
The ideologies which my magazine will present is a future for students, as the magazine is called “Underground” it will be there to help out new artists trying to chase their dreams for a music career, “Never giving up” is a major importance to the magazine, as on the double page for my magazine I will mention how the artist “Is overwhelmed with support, and will never give up trying to cement their position in a musical career”.
My magazine will use buzz words and other useful techniques to try and to attract customers, the use of the word “Free” and “New” will surely grab the attention of the target audience. I will use major artists to help publish my magazine as I will be using them as a forefront to gain the support of their fan bases.

(Draft) Content Page

(Draft) Front Cover

Link to the Presentation.

Link To Presentation

Mood board contents page

Music magazine content page mood board from StephenCraharrington

Music Magazine Mood Board

Music Magazine Mood Board

Firstly when we look at the magazines, we find that mostly all of the camera shots were of a mid-shot, this shows that the magazines obviously wants to interact with the audience, this makes the impression that the artists are oblivious of others and only focused upon the audience. The fact that we notice their body language shows that they are confident in their self and want to be an interaction in the audience’s life. Most of the magazines show their artists to be quite laid back and just relaxing or posing, this again shows off their body language creating an image in the readers mind before they have even read about them.

The artists in the mood board are shown to be stereotypically dressed to their pacific genre of music, for example grime and rap is usually seen as a ‘thug’ type of music, when we see Eminem in his front cover we find him dressed in a vest, this is typical of ‘thugs’ or the genre.

The overall representation of the magazine is that the artists are confident in creating a image in the audiences mind before their article has even be read, for example Jay-z is showing off his clothes implying that he is rich and is of a wealthy nature. The magazines try to advertise their popularity as they get the current ‘best thing’.

The font of the magazines seem similar, due to the fact that most of the magazine consist of a bold (anchorage text), they are the center point of the magazine as most people are attracted and drawn in due to simple sight of the story within the magazine. The boldness often highlights that the story is of importance.

Red is used frequent in these magazines, this is to drag the attention as it usually indicated that something is important, For example the title blocks of NME and Vibe on a single occasion can be seen in a reddish colour indicating that this is a main indicator to buy the magazine. The use of a white background also occurs in some magazines, this is to show purity or that they lighting up the plain, as they fill in a blank canvas.

Most of the articles are based on interviewing the artists; this is to give an insight on the lively hood of the artists and to show what they are currently working on or what problems they have overcome, this can be often used as a uplifting story which inspires the audience, this could lead them to buy the magazine again. Moving on the magazines articles are usually serious showing that they are yet again confident in what they do with their choices in life and what they will be answering during the interview.